weltschmerz

Work starts in four days. I spent the afternoon polishing shoes and gardening. Very Zen, I know.

The mood isn't as bleak as the title suggests; in fact, quite the opposite. I was informed of -- and hurriedly booked tickets for -- The New Pornographers' visit to London on 2nd November. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! I have no idea whether they're playing any more dates in the capital; the official website currently mentions only "UK/EU shows in November and more in December". Anyway, a perfect birthday present (from me to me). Twin Cinema is a definite grower; "Use It", "The Bleeding Heart Show" and "Sing Me Spanish Techno" have buried themselves in my head. My brother is furiously deliberating the possibility of travelling back from uni for the gig. Classes? Pah!

And of course there's Sigur Rós a week later. My limited edition copy of Takk... has arrived, replete with beautiful packaging, additional artwork and -- fine, I'll stop drooling now. "Hoppípolla", an obvious highlight, is on repeat on the CD player; of the songs I hadn't heard already, "Saeglopur" was immediately striking in its intensity. I eagerly await the live performances.

Tickets to Sigur Rós @ Brixton Academy, 9 September.

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

If they perform "Svefn-G-Englar", my life will be complete.

Oh my, it's been a while. No point apologising -- although I do hope that some people will still read this -- and let's just get on with it.

I got up early yesterday morning. (I'm still technically a student, so 9am counts as early.) Why? For this. Yes, my brother and I have tickets to see the Pixies in a month's time. Rock on. In fact, it's going to be a fan-bloody-tastic 3 weeks. Stay tuned; I might even write about the following gigs:

• Pixies, 31/8 @ Alexandra Palace
• Stars, 7/9 @ The Garage
• Lemonheads, 15/9 @ Shepherd's Bush Empire.

I first discovered and wrote about Rachael Yamagata pretty much exactly a year ago. She's come a long way since then: she performed on The O.C. (Season 2 Episode 11, in case you were wondering -- not that I watch the show) and appeared at Glastonbury last week. Having missed her gigs at The Enterprise a few months back, I wasn't going to make the same mistake with last night's show at the ICA.

Supporting was a young American singer-songwriter named Johnathan Rice (note spelling). The one-man-and-guitar act isn't easy to pull off, and despite Rice's best efforts, the overwhelming feeling I got from his 45-minute set was one of dreariness and tedium. The songs, while not poor per se, all sounded similar and dragged on for too long. Several of the song titles had connections with war -- not sure if I'm missing something there.

And so on to the main act. RY opened her set, as she did her debut LP, with "Be Be Your Love". A full band provided the backing, including the obligatory cellist and violinist (I wonder what classical musicians think of them). The setlist comprised a good mix of tracks from her self-titled EP and the Happenstance LP, plus unrecorded new material. "Why Did I Leave" (formerly known as "What About Steve", we were informed) was showcased as a song that will appear on the next album, with recording due to start in August.

The double whammy of "Letter Read" and "Worn Me Down", arguably her two best songs, provided the highlight of the evening; the latter included an audience-sung chorus. RY's rapport with the smallish crowd was excellent all night; there were anecdotes about London cabbies, performing in Glastonbury's trance tent (!), and even some scatological humour. The encore included "Reason Why" (the O.C. track) and the hidden track from Happenstance, a duet for which Johnathan Rice returned to the stage.

It was, overall, a decent gig. I think the majority of the audience expected more songs from the LP, and I would certainly have enjoyed hearing "Under My Skin" and "1963" live, but she can't be faulted for serving up a varied setlist.

I was admittedly disappointed that the stripped-down version of "Worn Me Down", which introduced me to RY in the first place, didn't feature. If you missed it last year, no worries, because it's been reposted at Achtung Baby!.

Guess who's going to be at Court No. 1 on the last Friday of Wimbledon...

I saw Kingdom Of Heaven (IMDb) at the cinema today. It was surprisingly enjoyable; I'd been expecting the 2.5 hours to drag on a little, but that was not the case. The fight scenes were reminiscent of those in LotR (which also featured Orlando Bloom), particularly the battle of Helm's Deep, and Gladiator (which Ridley Scott also directed).

The film has attracted predictable criticism for depicting the not-so-heavenly actions of some Crusaders, while painting the likes of Saladin in a more positive light. Scott was surely in a no-win situation here though, and overall, I think the film was pretty balanced and non-judgmental. If you care to check on the historical accuracy, which turns out to be quite good, see Wikipedia. The FT has a really excellent comment on – as opposed to a review of – the film.

Time will tell whether it wins any major awards. I'd certainly recommend seeing it; writing as someone who dropped history relatively early on in his school career, the film inspired me to learn more about events that occurred a millennium ago, but which still bear huge relevance today (unfortunately, perhaps).

P.S. In case you didn't know, the quote in the title is by the incomparable Mark Twain.

Anyone interested in going to these gigs? Visit the artists' websites for samples.

I Am Kloot
21/4 @ Camden Electric Ballroom

The Go! Team
12/5 @ Camden Electric Ballroom

Rachael Yamagata
28/6 @ ICA